INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTRE KURDISTAN

How do journalists use social media to do their job? That is the main subject of a series of workshop IMCK will organize in Iraq in 2013 and 2014. To be able to do so, first the trainers for the project had to be trained. International trainer Marco Visser and local trainer Sardasht Aziz on November 11, 2012 started the first of two ToT's (training of trainer's) on Social Media for Journalists. In Erbil they teach six participants from all over Iraq how to use social media as a source and as a tool to get your information out. A second workshop will take place later this month in Sulaymania. The best trainers that come out of these two ToT's will be teaching in 2013 and 2014 on the subject for IMCK. The project is funded by the Dutch NGO Hivos. Photo's of the workshop are on Facebook .

International trainer Marco Visser works with the staff of KirkukNow  to update the website where needed. He spends two days with the editors of the site, starting on May 16, 2012. Visser helped in 2011 to set up the website, which is informing all Kirkuki's about what goes on in their city. The site publishes news about the Kirkuki's in the different languages of the city, plus English. The website is amongst others supported by Hivos and the Arab Human Rights Foundation.

International trainer Marco Visser on May 9, 2012 started the second of his 3-day workshops on Social Media for Journalists. In Duhok twelve participants joined him, all journalists from different media. Co-trainer was Sardasht Aziz (picture). The training took place in the training space of the Kurdistan Civil Rights Organisation. The workshop is part of a series that IMCK is organising with support of Irex.

On 6 May 2012, IMCK started with a training on social media for journalists in Iraq. Social media are conquering the Middle East - and also Iraq . After the start of the demonstrations of 2011 many young people started using Facebook. Journalists are also an active group on the social network website. Still Iraqi journalists use social media mostly privately, exchanging opinions, Youtube links and pictures. Yet the power of social media for journalists lies in extending ones network, gathering news and sources, and simply be more connected to the world. The professional use of social media has not yet found ground in Iraq. Twitter for example, popular elsewhere in the world and in many ways regarded a useful for journalists, has hardly entered the Iraqi (journalists) scene yet. Therefore IMCK wants to train Iraqi journalists to become more Internet savvy. The journalists will learn how to work with sources that are available online, become more modern in their way to find stories ...